1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device used in the collecting of memorabilia, and, more particularly, to a sports card tray and storage organizer device for the protection, storage, and organization of collectable cards, specifically sports cards such as baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf, wrestling, and other cards.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR .sctn. 1.97-1.99
The collection of cards, particularly sport cards by sports minded individuals, has become a major hobby or advocation throughout the United States and elsewhere in the world. A typical collectable sport card comprises a 21/2 inch by 31/2 inch cardboard or paper board piece having a face side upon which is printed the picture of a sports athlete, official or personality typically in an action photograph, while the rear side has printed thereon historical data and information or accomplishments about the person such as name, nickname, date and place of birth, career or team history, playing statistics, honors, and other pertinent information, as well as possibly a relaxed photograph of the person.
Whether as a hobby or for investment purposes, there is a considerable interest in collecting sports cards and the manufacture, marketing and trading of such cards has developed into a significant high volume business activity.
Further, individual card collectors and/or traders and the businesses involved in the sports card field have organized clubs, organizations, publications, exhibitions, and conventions to further the interest of sports card collecting and to entice others to participate.
The economic value of sports cards or memorabilia often is dependent, primarily upon, such factors as age, physical condition, and rarity. Service companies are available for providing accurate and consistent appraisals and authentication of sports cards and various memorabilia.
The complexity of sports card and memorabilia collecting and trading and the handling and storage of a multitude of cards by collectors and traders has resulted in the need for unique and functional card collection storage and sorting apparatus and for methods of accomplishing such functions as well as accommodating potentially conflicting goals, such as, to safeguard the sports card or memorabilia so as to preserve their pristine physical condition to thereby command higher prices than otherwise, while allowing access to the cards to allow a person to look at and enjoy the pleasure of the sports card or to obtain autographs of the persons or sports personalities appearing on the card.
Heretofore, soft mylar "envelopes" have been used for the storage of individual cards. These envelopes comprise flexible material. However, they offer little protection from bending and twisting of the enclosed card and provide no effective means of organizing cards in logical sequence as they are capable of accommodating single cards only.
Similarly, soft plastic sheets containing multiple "pockets" each capable of holding a single card have been proposed wherein the sheets are generally punched along one edge to render them mountable in a standard 3-ring binder. However, such a storage system may fail to offer sufficient protection to the card from bending and twisting and still restricts the user to placing one card into one "pocket" which may represent a hinderance to effective organization of the cards.
Another storage device widely available comprises a two-piece, rigid plastic, "clam shell" container wherein a single card is sandwiched between two plastic plates which are snap-fit, one within the other. Such a device offers protection against bending and twisting of the card and prevents the card from being exposed to moisture, dust and ambient air conditions. However, each container is capable of housing only a single card and removal of the card from the container is most difficult, requiring both halves of the "clam shell" to be pried apart. Such containers are more appropriate for a single valuable investment grade of sports card or memorabilia as opposed to other sports cards and memorabilia collected for enjoyment, trading purposes, and aesthetic appreciation.
Examples of a two-piece snap-type fit single card holders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,450 to Rademacher and U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,619 to Hager.
Another type of storage device, more recently made available, is essentially a variation of a shoe-box storage system wherein cards are stored in a rigid plastic box which may incorporate a hinged lid having a snap close, snap open action. Such a storage device may protect cards against bending and twisting and provide for the storage of multiple cards, a drawback of such device is that retrieval of any one particular card, a series of cards, or a series of related cards, only can be achieved by first removing most, if not all, of the cards.
An example of a generally rectangular container for the storage and protection of sports cards is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,041 to Lemieux et al. The generally rectangular container disclosed therein includes a rigid internal enclosure which is slidably insertable and completely removable from a rigid external enclosure. The external enclosure incorporates two finger grip cutouts located to the front and to either side of the external enclosure to permit grasping the internal enclosure for removal. The internal enclosure has the capacity for storing a plurality of cards and permits random access of such cards by utilizing spaced bottom rails which create a sufficient gap for the insertion of a finger or fingers to raise any specific card or a series of cards, up and out of the card stack. A front panel insert to the internal enclosure is transparent, thus permitting visibility of the first card and any sequential ordering of a stack of cards.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,158,175 to Crawford there is disclosed a sports card sorter box/tray combination unit and card sorting method wherein the unit includes two mating half-sections which each include five card sorting bins. The sorting bins in the first section are numbered in sequence from 0 to 4 and the sorting bins in the second half-section are numbered in sequence from 5 to 9. With the tray-box unit in an open and card sorting position, the half-sections of the unit are aligned in substantially end-to-end orientation with the bins aligned in numbered sequence from 0 to 9. The card sorting bins of each half-section of the tray-box unit are opened on their upper and inner sides so that the sports cards can be easily slipped into the numbered bins, preferably such that they are stacked in a slightly tilted rearward fashion such that they will not slip out of the bins. The half-sections of the tray-box unit each bear an upper cover and handle portion which cooperate together, when the unit is closed for card carrying and storage purposes, to close the upper sides of the sorting bin and to maintain the enclosed sports cards in stored position therein. A pair of rectangular end or closure wall portions cooperate with end wall portions of the sorter tray and storage box to maintain the card storing half-sections in a closed and abutting arrangement during periods of card storage or transport. The sports card sorter box/tray combination unit is fabricated by the user from cardboard, pasteboard or sheet plastic cut-out pieces having appropriate fold lines and accompanying fabrication directions.